


The God of Solid Life Advice

by kehinki



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Silly, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-01-31 09:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18588082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kehinki/pseuds/kehinki
Summary: It's 2012. Steve is just informed by Loki that Bucky'salive.Loki also tells him some other things.





	The God of Solid Life Advice

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Жить как надо: совет от бога](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22304824) by [WTFSlash2020](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WTFSlash2020/pseuds/WTFSlash2020)



“Bucky is  _alive_ ,” Loki grunts.

It takes a moment to register what he’s said. He hasn’t heard a single soul here in the future utter that name and now here’s Loki of all people breathing life into a ghost. _Bucky’s alive_.

Bucky’s _alive?_

His heart begins to hammer and he immediately feels light-headed. His grip on Loki’s throat slackens. “What?” he breathes.

“And I hate to sound like a therapist—which you need, by the way—but keep an open dialogue with Tony.”

“ _What?_ ” he repeats.

A second later, the sceptre is pressed to his heart. Then, nothing.

 

\--

 

Some time later, he wakes up in bed and immediately jolts. “Bucky’s alive!”

“Dr. Hansen!” someone yells.

“Whoa there, Cap, maybe lie back down,” someone else says.

He turns and it’s Stark, lying on a bed next to him, hooked up to various heart monitors. Stark grins and lightly knocks on his arc reactor. “Had a little issue with this thing. They’re just doing some monitoring. What’s the deal with you?”

Thoughts racing a mile a minute, Steve blurts, “Loki disguised himself as me and somehow had my compass and he said _Bucky’s alive_ and then I think he said something about my _ass_.”

There’s a frighteningly long pause. Steve never thought of Stark as the type to ever be rendered speechless. Finally: “Well. Loki does seem keen on disguising himself as you. Maybe he has a soft spot.”

“Bucky’s alive!” Steve says again, barely registering Stark’s words. “Why would he say that? That’s—that’s—”

He feels a pressure at the front of his head and his eyes are beginning to sting and Stark starts looking a little worried. As worried as Steve’s ever seen him.

Before either of them are able to say another word, a doctor and a team of nurses bustle in.

 

\--

 

They don’t find Loki or the Tesseract. They assume he’s gone off-planet and send Thor off into the cosmos to go find him.

And Steve sends himself out into the world to go find Bucky.

But first, he tries having an _open dialogue_ with Stark.

“If you’re asking for my opinion,” Stark says, scratching at his beard, “I think he’s lying.” He must register something in Steve’s expression because he hastily adds, “But then again, you said they never recovered a body… And that he had been experimented on…”

Steve sits up in his seat.

Stark deflates a little. “Look, just… keep your expectations low. Assume the worst. And for god’s sake stop looking so earnest, I’m getting cavities.”

“So, you’ll help me, Mr. Stark?”

Stark sighs, rubbing at what Steve presumes is the scar tissue around his reactor. He does that a lot. “Sure,” Stark says. “I’ll get JARVIS on it. We should also ask the spy twins to get involved. They know all about this kind of spooky secret stuff.”

For the first time in what feels like a long time, Steve feels himself smile.

 

\--

 

For the first few months, they come up with nothing. Even Thor comes up with nothing in his search for Loki, who has seemingly disappeared into the ether along with the Tesseract and the sceptre.

Steve travels between New York and SHIELD HQ in DC often now, checking in with Natasha and Clint on any updates or clues. Sometimes he feels like they’re humoring him but he’s beyond caring. If Loki was telling the truth, Steve will never forgive himself for not trying his damndest to find Bucky.

On one of his DC outings he meets a VA counsellor named Sam, who says something about a _therapist_ , which reminds Steve about something _else_ Loki told him.

He strides into Stark’s workshop with a bag of doughnuts and a coffee (he knows what Stark likes now—one cream, two sugars). “Mr. Stark, do you have a therapist?” he asks.

Stark looks up from the gauntlet he’s working on. He stares at Steve for a long moment. “Wow,” he says.

Steve places the doughnuts and coffee on the table. “Here you go.”

“Okay,” Stark says, now looking _both_ insulted and confused.

“I don’t mean any offence,” Steve continues. “I was just—wondering. I’m thinking about seeing a therapist. You know, to help me adjust to,” he waves a vague hand, “all of this.”

After a beat, Stark breaks out into a grin (he has a nice smile when it’s not a smirk, Steve thinks). “ _Oh_ ,” he says, patting the seat next to him. “Sit down, Cap. Let’s have a chat.”

Steve smiles back and moves to sit. “You don’t have to call me Cap off the field, you know.”

“And you don’t have to call me Mr. Stark, like, ever, you know.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Steve says, rummaging into his doughnut bag and pulling out a chocolate glazed.

 

\--

 

Natasha's the one who hands him the file.

It’s hefty. A lot of it is redacted and some of it is in Russian. There are blueprints for what looks to be some kind of electric chair and a robot arm, and photocopies of some messy notes describing some kind of _serum_. There’s also a hazy black and white photo of—

Oh. Oh _god_.

The team surrounding him seems to fade into the background and all he can see is that photo and all he can hear is the beating of his own heart.

“Steve,” Natasha says gently from somewhere far away. “These were embedded deep in SHIELD’s databanks.”

“ _SHIELD_?” Steve says in a gasping breath, eyes still glued on the photo. It’s _Bucky_ —it’s Bucky sitting in that horrible looking chair.

He feels someone put a hand on his shoulder. He thinks it’s Sam.

“It’s not Fury,” Natasha says resolutely—she sounds so sure that Steve can’t bring himself to doubt her. But if it’s not Fury, then _who_?

“Steve,” Tony says quietly, almost directly in his ear. “We can read through this with you, lend some moral support. Remember what you said your therapist told you.”

Steve squeezes his eyes shut, unable to keep looking at Bucky’s face contorted in pain. “Okay, yes. Please. _Thank you_.”

 

\--

 

Tony rubs at his eyes. “Looks like this brainwashing went on for _years_. The guy definitely didn’t go down easy.”

Bruce shoots him a look and Steve sniffles. 

Some hours later, Steve comes across an article that makes his heart drop like a boulder. Maria and Howard Stark killed in a car accident. An _apparent_ car accident.

His breathing quickens. He looks over at Tony, who has his head resting on his palm, looking seconds away from falling asleep. Tony catches him staring and offers him a weary, commiserating smile.

“Tony,” Steve says, the name falling from his mouth like a led weight. “Tony, I’m so sorry.”

 

\--

 

Steve’s witnessed a lot of heartbreak in his life. A lot of anger and resentment. What he sees now is all that and _despair_. Agonizing and visceral.

He sits outside Tony’s workshop and waits. Waits for the anger to consume him and then burn itself out.

 

\--

 

Tony emerges from the workshop looking like he’s been through the fight of his life. His eyes are red-rimmed.

Steve stands and says nothing. He waits for the verbal blows.

“I hate him,” Tony says and Steve expected that.

Steve waits. Tony runs a trembling hand through his hair. Eventually, he says, “But you let me read the files. And. I fucking get it. I don’t want to but I do. But I still fucking hate _both of you._ ”

Steve somehow manages to keep his voice steady despite the quivering feelings of impotence and sorrow he feels down to his bones. “He needs our help, Tony.”

Tony looks like he wants to punch Steve but instead, shockingly, he just says, “I know.”

Steve takes a hesitant step forward. Tony doesn’t step back.

So, Steve hugs him. Tony lets him.

 

\--

 

Bucky seemed to remember him the one time he managed to catch up to him, but he’s a hard man to find after that.

HYDRA agents, on the other hand, are completely inept. Steve’s shocked they managed to remain hidden for so long.

When Iron Man blows up a confirmed HYDRA base with a single repulsor blast, Steve’s man enough to admit he’s a little turned on.

“Nice shot,” Steve says.

“Every shot I take is a nice shot,” Iron Man says, and Steve can practically hear the confident smirk in his voice.

Steve’s trying to remain level-headed and focused on the mission but sometimes he just can’t help going a little weak at the knees. God, if only Tony _knew_.

 

\--

 

 _Open dialogue_ , he thinks. _Just keep an open dialogue._

“Are you attracted to men?” Steve asks.

“ _Wow_ ,” Tony says.

 

\--

 

It takes them another year and a half to finally find Bucky. He’s living in a dingy but oddly cozy little apartment in Sokovia.

“You used to wear newspapers in your shoes,” Bucky says a little haltingly after Steve releases him from a hug. Then he glances down at Steve’s hand. “Nice ring.”

“Thanks,” Steve says, and hugs him again.

 

\--

 

The next time Loki shows up to wreak havoc on Earth, Steve drops his shield, walks over to the alien supervillain, and throws his arms around him in a tight embrace.

“Captain America is compromised!” a nearby reporter frantically yells into her mic. “I repeat, Captain America is—”

“Thank you,” Steve says.

“Okay,” Loki says, bafflement writ on his face.

A few meters up in the air, Iron Man nearly falls out of the sky laughing.

 

 

 

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> We're gonna party like it's two-thousand-twelve.


End file.
